Hopefully in a year of so, when recordings of the Los Angeles Opera replace the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts, a Saturday morning will be devoted to the production of Puccini’s “Tosca” that opened Saturday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Listening to the performance in the comfort of your living room, or in your car, will capture the full scope of Puccini’s opera. You’ll be riveted by the voice of soprano Sondra Radvanovsky (who hails from Berwyn, Illinois) as the tempestuous diva, Floria Tosca. You may even hear a strong hint of Maria Callas in the way she can furiously attack a phrase one moment, cajole and purr like a pussycat the next.
You’ll undoubtedly be moved by the impassioned singing of African-American tenor Russell Thomas (who hails from Miami) as Tosca’s doomed patriot/artist/lover Mario Cavaradossi. The brightness of his tone, the clarity of his full-volume high notes and depth of sincerity are captivating.
Your emotions will be set ablaze by the blood-and-thunder orchestral performance led by conductor James Conlon that balances Puccini’s melodies and melodrama.
What you will miss, fortunately, is the brutally ugly bombed-out bunker visuals that are central to British designer Bunny Christie’s concept. Imagine “Tosca” set in Abu Ghraib prison. Forget the opera’s actual settings: the beautiful Church of Sant’Andrea della Valle, the lavish baroque chambers of the Palazzo Farnese, and the imposing bastion of the Castel Sant’Angelo. To quote the immortal Tony Bennett, when it comes to this production, “the glory that was Rome is of another day.”
It’s always a bad sign when you find yourself trying to understand the “why” of a production, instead of being swept up in the music and drama. That is all too often the case with this “Tosca.” Why is there a gaping hole in the ceiling of each scene? Why is the all-important portrait that Cavaradossi is painting stacked like three fragments of lurid billboard? Why is Scarpia’s lavish chamber depicted as a storage cellar piled high with crates of pillaged art? Why has the opera’s setting in the Napoleonic era been updated 100 years? Actually, it’s a waste of time trying to figure this production out.
Radvanovsky and Thomas are perfectly matched vocally. They both possess dramatically powerful voices that rise and fall in the richest harmonies, ring with passion and can explode in fiery intensity. They are, unfortunately, far less compatible in terms of their visual appearance and acting ability. Hardly the dashing the Italian, Thomas comes across as decidedly nerdish and cuddly with his wire-rimed glasses and puppy dog air. She, on the other hand, is a superstar, a woman who puts the “glam” in glamorous. The result is a visual-musical conflict where your ears are hearing one performance and your eyes are seeing another. Perhaps a more skilled director than John Caird could have found a way to bring the two together as passionate equals, but that only happens vocally.
There’s a bit more dramatic credibility between Radvanovsky and her arch rival, the Baron Scarpia, sung by the rotund Italian baritone, Ambrogio Maestri. Scarpia, as maestro Conlon pointed out in his preconcert talk, is one of opera’s great villains, a direct descendant of Iago. He is a man whose impeccably adorned exterior masks the black soul of a sexual predator, whose overt religiosity is pure hypocrisy, a man that uses power to destroy and inflict pain on his opponents. Maestri’s performance captures about 50 percent of the role’s potential.
Radvanovsky, on the other hand, is a complete Tosca. Her jealousy can explode like a firestorm, as can her passion. She has just the right combination of spinto edge and dulcet tone. Her rendition of the pleading aria, “Vissi d’arte” produced one of the most enthusiastic ovations in some time. She also wields a mean dagger, which she uses to great effect to dispatch the demon on Rome. Her climatic suicide leap is the real thing.
There are times when you wish directors and designers would just trust the material they’re working on. This is one of those times.
Jim Farber is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer.
‘Tosca’
Rating: 2 stars
Where: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles
When: 7:30 p.m. May 2, 5 and 13; 2 p.m. May 7
Tickets: $24-$270
Length: 2½ hours, with two intermissions
Suitability: Some violence and mature themes, not for younger children
Information: 213-972-8001, laopera.org
